2014 Nontrad Applicants' Progress Thread

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Congrats on your successful cycle Sisko! You have a lot to be proud of, and we're proud of you, too 🙂 And you sure as hell deserve some high quality rest (from SDN, too).

I got 1st tier wait listed at Pitt this morning, which is more of a good news than a bad news (Pitt is notorious for wait listing the vast majority of applicants, and last year it accepted many tier 1 wait listers in the beginning of March and then in the beginning of April, so it seems like I may have a good chance here). I guess Pitt does want an outright love letter from me, besides all the other signs of attention I've already sent in the form of updates etc 🙂
I really loved the school and the city; aside from all the objective factors like the opportunities it provides etc (which are great), it just felt right for me. Pitt is one of the 2 schools I would choose over my current acceptance (if the price difference is not humongous).

Waiting for March has just become twice as excruciating.
 
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I got a surprising waitlist today, which is making me fret even more about the top choices that I haven't heard from yet. The wait until March really is just awful. I also wish the schools I haven't heard ANYTHING from would just get off their asses and reject me already.
 
Anyone else miserable in their day-to-day jobs because there is still about 5 months until we start school?
 
acceptmeplease said:
Anyone else miserable in their day-to-day jobs because there is still about 5 months until we start school?
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It seems very likely that I will have to reapply. On the bright side, I'll be done with undergrad and will be able to get a full time job, which in my case is $$$, but the idea that I have to count the days before I quit for one more year suck beyond anything I can describe in writing.
 
Two expected but annoying rejections last week (ugh), and otherwise waiting....so much waiting.

But hey, at least the olympics are around for the next two weeks as a distraction. I love the olympics.
 
SN12357 said:
But hey, at least the olympics are around for the next two weeks as a distraction. I love the olympics.
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A surprising source of pride and joy for me :happy: Go figure skating! 😛

Sorry to hear about your rejections, but I'm sure things will fall into place for you in March.
 
Yeah, this year was an absolute bust for me. No home interviews, only one international school interview.
 
GreenMed said:
Yes, the waiting gets more and more suspenseful.
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Is it March yet?
(My birthday is in the end of this month, and this year I'm not looking forward to it but rather want it to pass already and March to start.)
 
I think I've decided to go on one more interview. I just keep asking myself "what if..." I love the school, they offer me a great finaid package, etc. But then there's the stress and expense of traveling, hotels, time off of work. I don't know.

Also had my first midterm in orgo. Think I did well.
 
Ahhhh! I just can't decide. My boss gave me the time off of work, if I so choose to go. I can stay with a friend while there. Flights are record cheap.
 
Pose said:
Ahhhh! I just can't decide. My boss gave me the time off of work, if I so choose to go. I can stay with a friend while there. Flights are record cheap.
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Go for it then! 👍:idea: (please ignore the second smiley)
 
so I think this has been mentioned before. what are you guys doing for your fafsa? it's going to be really difficult for me to put my parents info if not impossible and i am really worried that I won't be able I afford school without it (I'm not very informed with the financial aid process outside of the fact I know we can take out a max of 20.500 in fed unsub loans) anyone else in a similar situation?
 
type12 said:
Yeah, this year was an absolute bust for me. No home interviews, only one international school interview.
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Sorry to hear that. I hope your international interview went well
 
PescadoAmor said:
so I think this has been mentioned before. what are you guys doing for your fafsa? it's going to be really difficult for me to put my parents info if not impossible and i am really worried that I won't be able I afford school without it (I'm not very informed with the financial aid process outside of the fact I know we can take out a max of 20.500 in fed unsub loans) anyone else in a similar situation?
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You can get government and private loans without putting in your parent information on your FAFSA. What not having the parent information endangers is scholarships and loans from the school. If you have extraordinary circumstances that prevent you from being able to provide parent information, contact your school's fin aid office (I'd call) and talk directly to them to see what options you have.
 
Same here. I tend to ramble and even though I read every day for pleasure I just don't have the writing gift. I've found that it is a nice escape though and sometimes helps to clarify my thoughts and feelings.

I also thought I might add film reviews and craft beer reviews to my blog as well
 
I wouldn't worry too much about privacy issues because situations can be described without giving out any identifying information (a story can even be embellished with some made up details 😉) - after all, how would any of the doctor authors be published at all - but I'm pretty sure if I started a blog it would fizzle out quite quickly.
Besides, this forum is just enough for my whining 😀
 
Just quick Q, did any of you use a professional editing service?
 
LabratABQ said:
Just quick Q, did any of you use a professional editing service?
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No I didn't

NuttyEngDude said:
You did it!!! :clap:

😀
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Ha yes I did. I wrote up a long description of my own thoughts on the entire med application process and I was going to find a place to post it here but I might piecemeal it and post it on the blog instead. I also write a lot of reviews on beeradvocate to keep track of what I've tried so I'm going to also post those to the blog over time too.
 
QuantumJ said:
No I didn't


Ha yes I did. I wrote up a long description of my own thoughts on the entire med application process and I was going to find a place to post it here but I might piecemeal it and post it on the blog instead. I also write a lot of reviews on beeradvocate to keep track of what I've tried so I'm going to also post those to the blog over time too.
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oh nice! i saw your blog! if you didnt, what did you use? are u just good at writing? cause i am horrible at it
 
SN12357 said:
Not a professional service. I used my friends and siblings.
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that is nice of them! well i am applying this cycle so I thought it might be smart to ask the ones who already been to where i am now 🙂
 
LabrarABQ, I just did it myself. There is story involved (thought bombed mcat, didn't work on app, mcat came back, uh oh it's borderline but I'll try, write PS and secondaries during a long two days, submit, hope for the best). Not that I would do this again though. If I could go back I would get friends and family to read it.
 
QuantumJ said:
LabrarABQ, I just did it myself. There is story involved (thought bombed mcat, didn't work on app, mcat came back, uh oh it's borderline but I'll try, write PS and secondaries during a long two days, submit, hope for the best). Not that I would do this again though. If I could go back I would get friends and family to read it.
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Oh ok...I am letting my buds to read them, i havent written the PS yet, but the EAs and most meaningful ones and there are quite few discrepancies...some said i shouldnt include too much details some said i need to be specific lmao. I am sorta lost...btw we're same age and i got my bs and wasnt really thinking of med school either until started to do what i went to school for and thought hm why the heck not lol
 
LabratABQ said:
that is nice of them! well i am applying this cycle so I thought it might be smart to ask the ones who already been to where i am now 🙂
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It was very nice of them! Particularly one of my sibs, who ended up reading probably 75% of my total essays (and I applied to 24 schools...). I reciprocated on grad school essays, resumes, and cover letters.

I do think it is a very important step to have someone who knows you well read and critique your essays. A stranger isn't going to be able to call you out on your bad habits and weaknesses in the same way. In my case I have a tendency to fall back into a rather 'cold' writing style because that's what I use for work. Also writing about yourself is uncomfortable. So my readers did things like send my essays back to me saying 'stop sounding so much like an emotionless robot'. Which was very helpful of them 🙂
 
I can understand having a hard time to balance details vs not. For me, my decision was heavily influenced by personal experiences with sickness in my family. Certainly I could write why medicine without getting into the details of my personal life but those details were what set me apart so I wrote all about them.
 
SN12357 said:
It was very nice of them! Particularly one of my sibs, who ended up reading probably 75% of my total essays (and I applied to 24 schools...). I reciprocated on grad school essays, resumes, and cover letters.

I do think it is a very important step to have someone who knows you well read and critique your essays. A stranger isn't going to be able to call you out on your bad habits and weaknesses in the same way. In my case I have a tendency to fall back into a rather 'cold' writing style because that's what I use for work. Also writing about yourself is uncomfortable. So my readers did things like send my essays back to me saying 'stop sounding so much like an emotionless robot'. Which was very helpful of them 🙂
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Ok, I'm glad! cause I, too, like you tend to get cold with my writing. I'm used to writing for grants and research papers so not much of warmness needed in such cases. I was tempted to just put bullet points for those EAs and most meaningful Eas. LOL

QuantumJ said:
I can understand having a hard time to balance details vs not. For me, my decision was heavily influenced by personal experiences with sickness in my family. Certainly I could write why medicine without getting into the details of my personal life but those details were what set me apart so I wrote all about them.
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That is what I am thinking of as well. I dont want to make it into a place where I cry, whine and ask for pettiness from the adcoms....
 
@SN12357 i hope you got good news after that many schools? 😀 (pls say yes, pls say yes, pls say yes)
 
LabratABQ said:
@SN12357 i hope you got good news after that many schools? 😀 (pls say yes, pls say yes, pls say yes)
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I ended up with 17 interview invitations and attended 13. Currently waiting on pins and needles for the non-rolling schools and my top choice program an accepted to 3 places. So yes!

In retrospect I think 24 schools was overkill, although I did end up applying kind of top heavy in a way that paid off (but could easily not have). I was also stateless in the process due to UMass's insanely strict residency rules. I think 15-24 schools is the range most people should end up considering for their school list, depending on their in-state options.
 
SN12357 said:
I ended up with 17 interview invitations and attended 13. Currently waiting on pins and needles for the non-rolling schools and my top choice program an accepted to 3 places. So yes!

In retrospect I think 24 schools was overkill, although I did end up applying kind of top heavy in a way that paid off (but could easily not have). I was also stateless in the process due to UMass's insanely strict residency rules. I think 15-24 schools is the range most people should end up considering for their school list, depending on their in-state options.
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oh wow that is very good! congrats! lol...do you mind if i ask about your academic stats and such? 😀
 
LabratABQ said:
oh wow that is very good! congrats! lol...do you mind if i ask about your academic stats and such? 😀
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My stats are average for the Top 20, basically. I don't like to get into more specifics than that. My undergrad GPA was fairly average (in premed terms; I wasn't premed then) but my post-bacc was a 4.0, and I've worked full time in research for several years so my research background is extremely strong.
 
I didn't use an editing service either - and English is not even my first language (though I did well in the 2 college English classes I took). Like SDN12357, I was helped by a couple of IRL friends and a couple of SDNers. Their suggestions were very useful, especially those of SDNers who know what the process is about.
So, having other people read your essays is quite important, but they don't have to be professional editors - in fact, I could argue that professional editing may take away your "personal touch".

As for details, I used as many of them as necessary to explain what I was doing and what I took away from those experiences. So I wrote in paragraphs rather than bullet points, but it's really up to you how to present your activities.
 
Amygdarya said:
I didn't use an editing service either - and English is not even my first language (though I did well in the 2 college English classes I took). Like SDN12357, I was helped by a couple of IRL friends and a couple of SDNers. Their suggestions were very useful, especially those of SDNers who know what the process is about.
So, having other people read your essays is quite important, but they don't have to be professional editors - in fact, I could argue that professional editing may take away your "personal touch".

As for details, I used as many of them as necessary to explain what I was doing and what I took away from those experiences. So I wrote in paragraphs rather than bullet points, but it's really up to you how to present your activities.
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I pretty much agree with everything you said. You need to be memorable, but leave the reader wanting more. Less is more in a personal statement, because you don't want the reader to be bored at all.

I found strangers who knew nothing about me and had them read mine for feedback. I also took it to the HR department at my hospital and got their feedback on whether or not reading it would make them want to meet me.

Get as many different eyes on it as possible and take the criticism with a grain of salt. What one person loves, another will not.

Just don't be forgettable. An advisor told me if, after the first 2 sentences he wanted to keep reading, it was a success.
 
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